The Silver Dragon of Nital

By Vik Walker

As the Dragon Guardian, it is Nathan's job to find the magical dragon eggs that have been hidden in the human world, and bring them back to the magical world to be hatched. With an evil Fairy trying to steal the magical eggs, Nathan needs all the help he can get - thank goodness for his new friends; two grumpy old trolls and the prettiest elf he's ever met!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vik Walker
• Release date: May 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310551185

Vik Walker

Not so very long ago, a storyteller was born, one might even say, a fantasy weaver (oooh, I like that – kinda rolls off the tongue, dontcha think?). Hand in hand with her most trusted friend, an imaginary boy named Charlie (awww, I miss Charlie), she wove many a tale of aliens and evil clones who impersonated her elder brothers (for certainly she wasn't actually related to those wretched boys who teased and taunted her mercilessly) while growing up in Ontario, Canada. Even when Charlie faded away, she continued to live in her own fantasy world, telling her stories to her stuffed animals, and finally writing them down when she was old enough to know how...

Book preview

Chapter One

Gimblet's

Splurp… Splosh… Splurp… Splosh…

With every step that Nathan took, he had to curl his toes under, so that his boot wouldn’t come off as he pulled it out of the sucking slush.

Splurp…

Then he had to uncurl his toes as he stepped back into the slush…

Splosh…

Another step…

Splurp... Splosh…

And another…

Splurp… Splosh…

He was only half-way home from school and already he felt like he had been splurping and sploshing through the wet, cold, mucky slush for hours.

He ducked his head against the fat wet snowflakes that blew into his face, making his cheeks cold and wet, as he slowly trudged his way down the street.

Splurp… Splosh… Splurp… Splosh…

Nathan figured it should have been a snow day. He should have been able to stay at home today and watch cartoons, or play video games, inside his nice, warm, house. But no, instead he had had to splurp and splosh all the way to school in the snow and slush, getting his pants all wet by the time he got there.

Then he had had to sit in class in his wet, cold, clothes, which itched like crazy, all day long. And then, when he had finally started to feel dry, they had sent him back out into the splurpy, sploshy, mucky, slushy snow to get all wet and cold…again.

It really wasn’t fair!

Nathan looked up again, and got blasted in the face with slushy flakes. He wasn’t too far from his house now. Counting the blocks in his head, he figured he had just six more to go. Six more cold, icky, slushy, splurpy, sploshy blocks. Right now they seemed like the longest six blocks in the world!

Nathan shivered as a blast of wind swirled around him. It was so cold. Then he looked across the street and saw it. Gimblet’s. Nathan stared at the store with longing. Every day he walked by that store, and every day he looked at the displays in the window and wished that he could go inside. But his mom always said no.

It’s too expensive in there, she’d say. And besides, that creepy old man who owns the place gives me the willies.

Nathan didn’t think the old guy was creepy. Okay, he was a little funny looking, and yeah, a little weird. The way he muttered to himself all the time was kinda odd. But not creepy. And besides, he sold the coolest stuff.

Nathan squinted his eyes against the snow blowing into his face as he tried to make out what was in the window today.

Maybe I’ll just go over and take a peek, he thought.

Looking both ways, Nathan crossed the street to take a look at what Gimblet’s had on display in their front window today. Wiping the frost off, he pressed his nose to the glass to get a good look. What he saw made him gasp with delight.

Win the Dragon! a sign announced underneath the coolest looking statue of a dragon Nathan had ever seen.

Nathan really, really wanted to try to win that dragon!

I’ll just pop in for a minute, he thought, just to get warm. Surely his mom wouldn’t get mad about that?

Nathan went over to the door, took a deep breath to ward off the nervous prickle that niggled at him for doing something he knew his mother wouldn’t like, then opened the door. A little jingle chimed as the door struck the bell over Nathan’s head, causing him to jump with a startle.

Don’t be silly, he told himself as he stepped inside and closed the door again with another jingle.

Nathan looked around him with excitement. The stuff in here was really cool. There were skulls, really neat statues, cool looking books, and on the counter was a bowl marked Dragon’s Teeth. How cool was that?

It smelled kinda weird though. Sort of like his grandmother’s attic, all musty and dusty.

Nathan looked around for the shopkeeper, and not seeing him anywhere, made his way over to where the little statue sat in front of the window.

Remove the Ring and Win the Dragon, the sign below it read.

Nathan looked at the silver dragon for a while, then picked it up and turned it to get a good look at it from all angles. The ring was around the dragon’s neck. It looked like it was real gold, with a huge ruby, but Nathan figured it was probably fake. Trying to pull it off over the dragon’s head, he realized that it was too small.

There must be some way to get it off, he thought, otherwise it wouldn’t be a very fair contest!

He inspected the ring very closely, trying to see if there was some sort of hinge on it, or maybe a clasp or something which he could use to open the ring up.

Nope, nothing.

Hmmm, Nathan murmured aloud, pondering how he could get the ring off.

Then the weirdest thing happened. At least Nathan thought it did.

But that’s impossible, he thought, it couldn’t have.

But then he saw it again, just for the briefest moment. The ring actually winked at him!

No way! he whispered, reaching out to touch the ruby.

Ach, ye there, whot d’ye think ye be doin’?

Nathan whirled around, startled at the sound of the shopkeeper’s voice. The man coming towards him was a short old man, with so many wrinkles, his wrinkles actually had wrinkles. He reminded Nathan of one of those little dogs that looked like they had ten times more skin than body.

Oh…um…I… Nathan stammered as the old man came closer.

Are ye thinkin’ ta be stealin’ that? the old man growled at him.

N-no…No, I…um…the sign…

Oh, aye, the sign. So, ye thought ye might be winnin’ it then did ye?

Well…I…

Well…I… the shopkeeper mimicked. Ye seem to be havin’ a wee bit o’ a stutterin’ problem. Do ye wish ta try an’ win the dragon or nay?

Nathan swallowed, trying to dislodge the lump in his throat before answering.

Yes, sir, he managed to say without stuttering.

Sir is it? Hmmph. I’m nay sure if I’ve a likin’ for that. Well then, have a go at gettin’ the ring off if ye must. The shopkeeper waved his hand at Nathan as he said this, then folded his arms over his chest as if he didn’t believe that Nathan could do it.

Nathan turned back to the dragon to make another attempt at trying to get the ring off, only to discover that the ring was missing!

Well, the shopkeeper said gruffly, what’re ye waitin’ for?

Um… Nathan turned back around and held his hand out to the old man. Then as he opened his hand, both he and the shopkeeper looked down in amazement.

In the palm of Nathan’s hand lay the ruby ring!

Chapter Two

The Dragon Guardian

Ach! It would